PHILADELPHIA 38, SAN FRANCISCO 17

SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Eagles had little trouble adjusting to life without Donovan McNabb, which should give them good practice for preparing for life without Koy Detmer.

Detmer passed for 227 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another before leaving late in the third quarter with a dislocated left elbow as the Eagles opened some breathing room atop the NFC East with a 38-17 rout of the San Francisco 49ers.

Philadelphia (8-3) was expected to struggle offensively without McNabb, who suffered a broken right ankle in last week's win over Arizona. But Detmer made a seamless transition, completing 18-of-26 passes, including 11 straight during one stretch.

"I felt great," Detmer said. "What a night. The ball was feeling good. The `O line' did an unbelievable job and the receivers made unbelievable plays. (Todd) Pinkston, (James) Thrash and (Antonio) Freeman shined tonight. I felt good in the pocket and could see everything and guys got open."

"Koy got the game ball tonight," Eagles coach Andy Reid added. "He played a heck of a game. It was a shame he wasn't able to finish the game. He's a tough nut, so if he's not walking around, you know something has happened."

With 3:43 to go in the third quarter, Detmer was spun to the turf by defensive end Chike Okeafor and used his left arm to brace his fall. He immediately began flailing his legs in obvious pain and was carted off the field.

"They don't have any time frame right now," said Detmer, who returned to the sidelines in street clothes in the fourth quarter. "We did some X-rays and we'll do some MRIs back home and go from there, see what happens."

A.J. Feeley came on and hit tight end Chad Lewis for a one-yard touchdown on his first pass of the season to extend the Eagles' lead to 35-10.

Feeley ended up 3-for-3 for 17 yards. Philadelphia improved to 7-0 against NFC opponents this season and moved two games ahead of the second-place New York Giants in the Eastern Division.

Jeff Garcia was 29-for-51 for 284 yards and two TDs for the 49ers (7-4), who are two games in front of second-place Arizona in the NFC West.

"They rallied around not having Donovan in the lineup and Koy did a great job," Garcia said. "We didn't make plays. It was basically playing catchup and we couldn't make any plays to change the momentum. We need it to be a wakeup call."

The Eagles did not need a wakeup call. After forcing the 49ers to punt on their first three possessions, Philadelphia grabbed the lead on the third play of the second quarter. Detmer underthrew Pinkston, who wrestled the ball away from cornerback Jason Webster and fell into the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown.

San Francisco punted again and Brian Mitchell fielded it on the run, got a key block from Michael Lewis and ran 76 yards for his 13th career kick return for touchdown. That broke the record he shared with Eric Metcalf.

"The kick was low with very little hang time," Mitchell said. "I caught it at full speed and the first guy missed me. Then I saw a huge hole and I hit it. Nobody touched me from there."

The 49ers answered with a quick 55-yard drive, getting on the board on a three-yard TD toss from Garcia to Terrell Owens, who caught 13 passes for 166 yards.

Detmer restored the Eagles' 14-point lead in the final minute of the first half with an 11-yard strike to Freeman.

"The guys played like they played before, they played their hearts out," Reid said. "We can't say we don't miss a great player like McNabb, but you run the offense and let the guy execute on the things he's worked on in training camp."

Detmer kept working in the second half. After Jeff Chandler kicked a 35-yard field goal for San Francisco, Philadelphia marched 64 yards and took a 28-10 lead on a one-yard keeper by Detmer.

"We like to think we are a good team and we didn't play very well today, and I'm responsible for getting them up and getting them ready for every phase," 49ers coach Steve Mariucci said.

San Francisco totaled 409 total yards against an Eagles' defense that ranked second in the NFC. But much of the yardage came after the outcome was determined.

"We didn't play well in any sort of way," Garcia said. "We never established a rhythm on the field and it got ugly fast, and it stayed that way."